The Buzz | Shively dentist breaks pepper record

Louisville dentist Jason McNabb hasn’t just broken a world record — he’s blasted it to smithereens.

McNabb, a.k.a. “Dr. Pepper,” spends his spare time training to “speed eat” ghost peppers. For the record, the ghost pepper or bhut jolokia is the hottest pepper in the world. It grows in the mountainous northeastern region of India and registers over 1 million Scoville units, the international measure of hotness. That’s 200-400 times hotter than a jalapeno.

McNabb made national news when he set the Guinness Book of World Records mark for eating 66 grams (between 12 and 15) of peppers in two minutes.

But the true record — and the one he wanted to beat — was held by Birgit Tack of Germany, who consumed three ghost peppers in a mere 57 seconds.

It’s as good a time as any to mention that consuming just one ghost pepper can cause profuse sweating, intense stomach cramps, vomiting and hours of extreme burning sensations from the tongue down to the gut.

McNabb traveled to Milan, Italy, last month intent on breaking Tack’s record and did. It took McNabb only 16.15 seconds to choke down the three ghost peppers.

The Buzz had to know how he felt after setting the world record. “I purged the peppers afterwards,” said McNabb. “This prevents a lot of ‘unpleasantness’ afterwards.”